Sunday, April 22, 2007

Flexibility

You already know that I'm a big proponent of "thoughtful" parenting. But have we discussed flexibility? It's inherent in being a thoughtful person, not just a parent, because if you are thinking about things - mindful of what you are doing day to day - you are more than likely well-schooled in flexibility. As in, "Hmmm, this doesn't seem to be working, maybe we ought to try that," or "I don't want to do that just because everyone else is, so I will do this instead".

So you may recall that I referred to the Pokemon craze that has hit first grade; you know, that weird fad my son knew nothing about and that caused him a little bit of ridicule? If this rings a bell, then you remember that I fished around to find out if he felt left out and it was clear that day that he didn't care. Well, not surprisingly, when the Scholastic Book Fair was held at his school the next week, Baxter's wish list included - you guessed it! - a Pokemon book. I have to say that I am generally in favor of books as a means to learn about the TV shows and movies other kids are watching without having to see junk - especially scary junk.

So, I bought it for him.

And it had a poster inside.

And I helped him tape it to the kitchen wall where we can refer to it at least, oh, a hundred times a day, and choose which characters we are going to "be", because he has a great imagination. He hasn't asked for any of the playing cards (yet) and has been perfectly satisfied with pretending to be Pikachu all day.

I get to be "Ditto", whose claim to fame involves being able to turn into any Pokemon character he wants when he's under attack.